This man perhaps more than any other made the modern world aware of the labor camps and repressive Russian practices. He was exiled from Russia in 1974 and did not return until 1994. In fact; In 1970, Solzhenitsyn when was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature he could not receive the prize personally in Stockholm since he was afraid he would not be let back into the Soviet Union. Solzhenitsyn received his prize at the 1974 ceremony after he had been deported from the Soviet Union.

For many, his works were their introduction to Russian Literature and Political reality.